Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1887-01-07
A JAPANESE TROUPE.
A MANAGER RELATES HIS EXPERT
ENCE WITH THE MEMBERS.

Fond of the Bath-Taking a Liking to
Lager Beer - Saying Prayers Street
Performance I'm Japan.
'It was the first troupe of Japanese that
had ever played throughout the United
States and Canada and was a big nov
city. 1t was made up of eighteen Japs-
eleven men, three women and four child
rem. They could not talk a word OF Eng
Gsh, and as had to live right with them
/ was obliged to pick up their language as
best 1 could. did it through pantomime,
picking up an object or doing a thing
and then getting the proper words fer
them from the Japs. l had little in
dexed book, and used to put the words
and expressions that / learned in it,
writing them as they sounded to me, with
the definition. In n few months after |
joined them 1 was quite u Jap myself
The language is easily learned, and re-
sembles Spanish very much. / dressed
like the Japs, and allowed my hair to
grow long. Here's an old photograph of
me as 1 appeared with little Kotzko in my
kimona. l looked like the real article,
didn't I?''
"What's the kimonas"
otis the loose, flowing robe that the
Japs wear, folding it across the breast. In,
summer it is light garment, and in win
ter it is heavily padded and very warm.
Some of these kimonas are beautifully
embroidered Under this kimona they
wear the baggy pants or mamushka,
fastened at the waist by belt, called the
'obe'
IN A "CHEAP JOHN" SUIT.
''But the Japs soon wanted American
clothes, and they got them, too. Togo
kichi, one of the party, went out on his
own hook one day, and came back with
very queer hand-me-down suit on, over q
thin undershirt, and his pants tucked in
pair of very stogy cowhide boots. Oh,
but he looked funny when he walked into
the hotel in this rig. The Cheap john
clothier had taken advantage of him and
charged him four prices, so that 1 had to
go around and get part of the money back
'"The Japanese are the most clearly
people that / have ever SEEM" proceeded
Mr.. Hildreth. 81 had to be careful to Sc
cure bath rooms at every hotel we visited,
and if there were no bath rooms was ex-
pected to make rates with some bath
house in the town. Why, ON the sleeping
cars they were up at daylight scrubbing
themselves all over and as soon as they
reached the hotel they were at it again.
They use on their hair a peculiar pomade
that glistens and shines on their jetty
locks. The women use more of this than
the men. Occasionally the men use
great deal of it, though, in combing their
hair up to stiff knot on the tops of their
heads They all insisted upon two baths
per week regularly, besides their sponge
baths daily, and they used to have the
water so hot that neither you nor l could
stand it. Almost the first English they
picked up was the expression Gimme
wasser,' which they used on going into
every hotel"
"Did your Japs tackle kindly to Ameri
can intoxicants?''
eyes, but they were never under the in
fuence. They liked beer, and it seemed
to have no effect upon them. Every
night after a performance the troupe
would gather in the hotel and have beer
and lunch. Some of them liked other
drinks, however, and had to have them.
One old man and his wife wanted gin
and another Jap tackled sherry. l had to
get this for them, too. They would not
went with them they would not eat the
hotel food and had to arrange to have
one of the women of the party go into the
hotel kitchen and cook for the Japs. They
used to eat eggs, rice and meat stews.
PARTICULARLY FOND OF PIE.
CATER time, though, they went
through the regular bills of fare from
soup to nuts. They were particularly
stuck ON that great American institution
pie. Then they always said their
prayers morning and night, and just be-
fore they went on the stage to do their act
they prayed to their God to help them.
In praying they invariably turned their
backs upon any one present, stood erect
rubbed their hands softly together, and
muttered their petition in a sing-song
tone They were all interested in the
habits and customs of the Americans, and
when they saw any strange thing they
studied it over until they learned it.
"My chums in the company were two
boys, Kotzko and Yousanmatz. The lat
ter was the boy who did the ladder act
and Kotzko used to be balanced ON a long
bamboo pole with Otoyon, little girl
These two boys wouldn't live without me,
80 l always got double bedded room and
bunked with them. AT first they wouldn' t
sleep in an American bed, and always car
ried their mats for the floor, with pillows
of wood, made bowl-shaped for the head
and rounded so that they would move
with the head. The members of the
troupe all came from Yokohama and Ma
gasaki. They were not of the street-per-
forming class in Japan, but of the middle
class, like those in the village An old
man, Yonousan, who was totally blind,
used to do the iron jaw act by lifting tubs
full of great stones with his teeth. He
was, however, street performer, but
later performed in legitimate places of
amusement like the others. He used to
stand on the street corners in the japanese
towns, and after a man had collected a
crowd by drumming Japanese banjo he
would do the egg trick, swallow needle
and thread and bring the needle out
threaded, and other feats of magic, while
the boy, Kotzko, would do tumbling.
Then they would collect the cana, OF
money, the usual offering being large,
oval coin called a tempo. 1t had square
hole in the center, and the collector would
string them on wire. When the trio
collected certain amount they would lie
idle and not go to work again until all the
money was gone. Chicago Herald Inter
view.